The 'L' Word
by AquilaTempestas
Summary: Diego's never experienced love, but has he finally discovered it? Loosely based off the new trailer. Diego/Shira. 100th fic!


**Disclaimer**

I do not own Ice Age unfortunately

**Title**

The 'L' Word

**Summary**

Diego's never experienced love, but has he finally discovered it? Diego/Shira. 100th fic!

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Diego paced back and forth, his mind unable to let him rest for even one minute. For some unexplainable reason, he couldn't sleep even though it had been a long day. It wasn't as if he was coming off an adrenaline rush – he'd grown accustomed to them now and knew how to cope. But this feeling... it was foreign. And he didn't like it one bit.

Manny and Sid watched the sabre wondering what on earth was wrong with him. They too, should've been sleeping, but Diego's restless pacing unnerved them. Sid thought he might have some stomach aches, but Manny had a feeling there was more to it than that. They watched him silently, waiting for the sabre to voice his thoughts.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't eat, I can't sleep..." he trailed off, a concerned look on his face. His problems started after his first meeting with that female sabre, Shira. He had never seen such a beautiful sabre before. She was a rare breed; she had grey fur with black stripes and sapphire coloured eyes. Her sabre canines were shorter than his own, but they were sharp and in top health. Obviously, she was feeding well even for a lone sabre. It was a well known fact sabres didn't fare so well on their own.

Before Sid could open his mouth, Manny spoke, "Oh I know what you've got. The 'L' word," he said, in an almost smug tone. Diego stopped pacing. His ears perked. Could Manny be suggesting he was in...

"Yeah, LEPROSY!" Sid declared.

"No, it's four letters and start's with 'L' and ends with 'E'," he replied with a dead-panned expression.

Sid's face brightened. "Oh yeah LICE!"

Manny glared. "No!"

A four letter word starting with an 'L' and ending with an 'E'. Love had to be the word Manny was suggesting. His suggestion made his skin crawl. Love? Him of all sabres? He didn't do love. At least, he didn't think he did. Until now. His thoughts were focused on Shira day and night. Just hearing her voice could make a bad day turn into a good one. "Man, you're becoming soft," he thought to himself.

A brief scene of Shira tackling him played in his mind. She was strong and brave. Not many female sabres would take on a male sabre alone, especially since they were smaller. But what the females lacked in strength, they made up for in agility. "Oh I know it, LOVE!" Sid shouted. His announcement was quickly followed by bizarre noises which Diego believed were meant to be 'kissy' sounds.

"Sid, don't force me to eat you!" Diego threatened.

Sid grinned. "Aw I don't think that would be a good idea Diego. If you eat me, you'll reek of sloth and that won't impress your crush," Sid taunted skipping around the tiger. Damn that sloth. He was right. For a creature that spent a lot of time goofing off, he certainly came up with insightful comments. "So what is it about Shira you like huh? Manny likes big butts."

This was not the conversation he wanted to share with Sid. "I'd rather not talk about this." Diego looked up at Manny with a helpful expression, but Manny shook his trunk.

"You're on own pal."

Well, that was damaging to his confidence. Now he had to endure Sid's jokes for an unknown period of time. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Anytime."

Sid continued to harass Diego. "When are you going to ask her out? And how are you going to? Are you going to growl at her? I hope not because that wouldn't be very romantic at all."

"And you know this because?"

"Why, I know everything about love."

"But you've never been in love," Manny pointed out.

"I've been in and out of love many times," Sid replied.

As amusing as this was, none of this chatter was helping Diego. "What do you think I should do?" he asked, stepping in between the two herbivores.

"Serenade her with a song!"

"Tell you how you really feel."

Singing a song to Shira sounded less intimidating than telling her how he truly felt. But what would he sing? Perhaps taking Manny's suggestion would be the best route to take. Manny spoke with proven experience at least. He turned to face Manny. "Is that what you did?"

Manny remembered telling Ellie he liked her butt, but Ellie was no normal mammoth. The girl believed she was an opossum at one stage. Shira seemed more level-headed than that. "Well, yeah. Although don't tell Shira you like her butt," he warned.

"Why don't you combine the two?" Sid suggested.

"What do you mean?"

Sid waddled towards Diego. "Sing to her a song about your feelings for her." He walked closer then threw a coral necklace around his neck. "I made this for you." He punched Diego in his foreleg. Diego didn't even flinch. "Go get her tiger!"

He remained still. Did he want to forsake all dignity on this girl? What if it didn't work out? What if... she rejected him? "I don't think..."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of Diego, I've been there. Don't walk away from your only chance... you'll live to regret it," Manny said. "Just imagine if I gave up on Ellie. Peaches would never have been born and I'd continue to believe I was the last mammoth. I don't want you to experience the same negative feelings I did, don't carry that weight."

Manny raised good points, but Diego couldn't bring himself to tell Shira the truth without coming off as sarcastic. "Where do I start?"

"Simple, ask her to join our crew."

"But she's on that ship still..." With those blasted pirates.

Manny raised his trunk and pointed behinds Diego. "She's swimming towards us right now. Look behind you."

Diego spun around and noticed a grey furred form paddling towards their ice shaft. It was strange to see a sabre swimming, but he knew he wasn't seeing things. She could fight him, she could tolerate that rough pirate crew... of course she could swim too. He felt his throat close, the words unable to form in his mind.

Shira's front paws grabbed onto the side of the ice, her eyes resting on him. Diego was still speechless, but a gentle nudge from Sid caused him to snap out of his trance. He thought of the first words that came to his mind. "Care to join our scurvy crew?" he asked, trying hard not to sound sarcastic but failed in his attempt.

Shira picked herself up. "A sloth, a mammoth and a sabre? You guys are like the start of a bad joke," she said, with a small grin on her face. "Of course I'll join you, why did you think I swam all this way? It wasn't just to say 'hi'." She walked over, shook her body to rid herself of the water and stood in front of Diego, grinning at him.

He had betrayed his own pack, escaped from a world of dinosaurs, saved a human baby and dealt with many other adventures, but he knew this one would be far more difficult than the others combined. It was even more difficult than overcoming his fear of water. Looking at Shira, he knew he could win this challenge. In fact, he was looking forward to it.

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In two and a half years I have finally hit the big 100. Yes, this is my 100th story and I'm glad to share it with you all : )

I never imagined I would write for Ice Age, but reading the stories on here and the introduction of Shira in the 4th movie, have inspired me. Big thanks to those of you who gave me a chance by reading by very first Ice Age fic 'Misinterpretation'. Thanks must also go to everyone else who read my stories that came after that and supported them by reviewing, faving and alerting.

In the lead up to the 4th movie, I'm going to try and post at least a new one shot/update every second day.

Thanks again and enjoy!


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